Cincinnati State trustees honored
January 16, 2009
Three individuals who recently left the board of trustees after a combined 45 years of service to Cincinnati State Technical and Community College were honored recently during a luncheon ceremony in the Advanced Technology & Learning Center.
The setting was apt. After all, these trustees -- Nancy Conner, Lisa FitzGibbon and Annette Smith Tarver – were instrumental in getting the ATLC built.
Dr. John Henderson, Cincinnati State’s interim president, joined incumbent trustee Mark Walton in praising their service, saying that Conner, FitzGibbon and Tarver helped transform the college.
Indeed, Conner, the longest-serving trustee of the group, noted that her initial appointment to the board of what was then Cincinnati Technical College in 1990 was made by the Cincinnati Board of Education. At the time the governor of Ohio controlled two board appointments, the school board five.
Since, then, of course, the institution has become an institution that, as FitzGibbon noted, prides itself on being both a technical college and a community college.That evolution has meant growth, in terms of both quantity and quality.
Tarver told guests, for example, that she looks back with pride at the development of a system that now includes not only the original Main Building, but a Health Professions Building, the ATLC and campuses in Evendale (the Workforce Development Center) and Harrison, Ohio (the Cincinnati West Airport).
FitzGibbon, meanwhile, said her role in helping the College participate in the Academic Quality Improvement Program, while challenging, was particularly rewarding. Cincinnati State joined the AQIP in 2001, and as a result has launched such initiatives as a strengthened academic advising operation, an improved instructional technology infrastructure and a rigorous system for measuring student outcomes and assessing the results of various teaching methods.
After an elegant meal prepared and served by students at Cincinnati State’s Midwest Culinary Institute, Henderson presented Conner, FitzGibbon and Tarver with signed prints depicting the growth of the Cincinnati State campus system.
(photo by Annette Smith Tarver: Left to right: Lisa FitzGibbon and Nancy Conner)
